Property Rehab: Fixer-Upper and Construction Talk

Reading some of the other savings tips for rehabbing reminded me of products that I have used to extend the life of roofs that are showing wear and approaching the point where they need to be replaced.
There are clear coatings that are flexible and durable being manufactured by a few producers. Among these are Elastomeric and Roof-it. I first became intrigued by these coatings when I found out that McDonald's Corporate recommends these types of products to their franchise owners as a way to get about 5 extra years out of a roof. That sounded good to me.

I’m always looking to learn new ideas and sometimes get reminded of money saving projects that can save homeowners and investors money while doing deals. Hopefully this will help you out and give you some good ideas like it did me.
Enjoy!
By Geoff Williams | U.S.News & World Report
Cracks under windows and doors and holes near the foundation. Unfortunately, there probably aren't just cracks and gaps in your attic - your basement may have them, too, and there may be spaces around your windows and doors where air is getting in. (If you want to, you could spend a good month or two, and quite a bit of cash, sealing up all the cracks in your house.)

I’m always looking to learn new ideas and sometimes get reminded of money saving projects that can save homeowners and investors money while doing deals. Hopefully this will help you out and give you some good ideas like it did me.
Enjoy!
By Geoff Williams | U.S.News & World Report
The attic. If you're interested in only heating and cooling the parts of the house that you live in, and not, say, the drafty attic you rarely visit, Zuber suggests homeowners seal up the air in the upper part of their homes.

Knowing what to buy or build during each economic cycle is crucial to making money in good times and bad. I am a real estate developer and started my career in Southern California where the real estate market goes way up and way down depending on the dynamics of the economy. Fortunately, when I first started investing in speculative building, the economy was heading up. It was the early eighty’s and the last recession was just ending. I would buy a building lot in the exclusive areas of Rancho Santa Fe, and design and build an estate home to resale. During the building period the land value would go up by 50k – 75k just because the economy was heating up. But also the cost of land and building a home was much less than the appraised value of homes being sold on the market.

Hey everyone, I got my offer accepted! and I'm stoked!
Here's how I found the deal: bandit signs. I got a call last September from a homeowner that wanted to sell but she wasn't ready at that time. So I offered to follow up with her in a few weeks. I called and she was still not ready. I offered to follow up again, and she still wasn't ready. So after 4 follow ups. She called me last week and said: are you still interested in my property? WOW. I was shocked. Persistence pays off.
Long story short, I looked at the house, took pictures with my cellphone, made notes, and i asked her what she wanted for it. She said she would get back to me on that. In the meantime I had my Realtor run Comps. So I was prepared.

I found a great article that talks about simple things to do to a bathroom when updating or remodeling a property. As we all know, Kitchens and Bathrooms are a great place to start when remodeling a property and it doesn’t take a ton of work or money to make a bathroom sing! I hope these simple ideas help you as much as they helped me. Enjoy.
Value-enhancing bath upgrades
The Home Depot – Wed, Jan 16, 2013 2:51 PM EST
Want to improve your home's value and functionality? Start with the master bath. If you remodel this high-traffic area, you'll upgrade your living space while increasing your home's value.

I found a cool article that talked about ways to make small closets appear bigger. This is big for investors because your buyers who will be buying this house look at closets and can like, or not like a house because of the closet. Just a fun article that gives some good advice to help us when we are staging a property to sell. Enjoy and let me know what you think about these ideas.
Instant ways to make a small closet bigger
By Jennifer Wagner | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Tue, Dec 18, 2012 12:16 PM EST

As you build your Power Team you may want to have several questions that you ask each potential member.

Another BIG Ticket item when it comes to housing is Heating Venting and Air Conditioning, a.k.a. HVAC. Thus, you need a qualified HVAC contractor on your Power Team. This expense can be costly and you do not want to miss repairs, improvements or upgrades you need to make to your HVAC system.

Staceys Insider Tip: Always look for vents for heating and cooling in additions, attics or basements. Sometimes people convert extra space into living space but that additional space may not have heating or cooling.

I just went to see a FSBO belonging to a MOTIVATED SELLER who is ready to just cash out and move on. He bought the property as a foreclosure and has been fixing it up himself until now. It is about halfway done (electrical, plumbing, light fixtures, roof sealed, walls done) and needs appliances, pool cleaned, kitchen cabinets, and finish up one of the bathrooms. I am working out the numbers as we speak to offer on it and get it under contract so I can assign it or double close it to a buyer that is acquiring properties for rental income.

What is a realistic and quick way I can ESTIMATE a GENERAL breakdown of REPAIRS (ballpark) to present to the end buyer initially??

If you are a fan of reality TV, you have probably noticed an overabundance of house-flipping shows, and each show paints a picture of a little hard work followed by nearly risk-free profit for those who endure. You may not be surprised to find out that sometimes reality TV is anything but real. Even if you are not looking to build a career as a home flipper, you might be in the market to purchase a short sale or foreclosed property. These properties are often called distressed properties.